


Reading Braille on Bones

by uwa-so-frisk (disillusionist9)



Series: Undertale: Anonymous [6]
Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Flowey Redemption, Gen, Gift Fic, Post-Undertale Pacifist Route, Puns & Word Play, Sans Makes Puns, Sans Remembers Resets, The Underground (Undertale), Tumblr Prompt, Waterfall (Undertale)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-23
Updated: 2018-01-23
Packaged: 2019-03-08 16:18:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,095
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13461921
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/disillusionist9/pseuds/uwa-so-frisk
Summary: The Underground is long empty after Frisk freed the monsters, but someone is left alone in that dark and empty place. Maybe Sans can reach out to him...





	Reading Braille on Bones

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Greyshi](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Greyshi/gifts).



Sans’s eye sockets are closed.

This, in and of itself is not uncommon. Any passerby would assume he’s taking a ‘mandated break’. If there were anyone around, that is.

The Underground feels more like the Void now than a place he used to live. Without the hustle of thousands of monsters living below the mountain, everything feels empty, hungry, and unnatural. He would never call this place his ‘home’. He hadn’t looked back after walking through the mouth of the cave created by the Barrier. But, as much as he hates the way the Underground changed him the last few years, it hurts to see it falling apart this way.

At first there were teams of scientists both monsters and humans trying to ‘save the CORE’, but it turned out it was safer to completely dismantle that. All it did was filter the magic coming from the source spring far below the mountain, and undiluted magic not tainted by old machinery was much safer. The trees and surrounding forest worked as a more natural filter anyway.

Then, some parts were blocked off by conservationists, trying to seal off ‘history’. Most of that was in New Home, not the tiny pocket of Waterfall he is sitting in now.

He’s stayed motionless for three hours now. Frisk explained leg cramps one day after they got a Charlie horse during a soccer game. Sans is  _ very  _ glad he doesn’t have muscles if they can do that. It means he can keep waiting as long as it takes for him to show up like they agreed.

It’s not long after he’s rewarded for his patience.

“Hello, Sans.”

Hearing his name in that voice is still odd. Opening his eyes slowly, he lets his real grin settle onto his face. “hello, asriel.”

The little goat monster sits among the reeds across a bioluminescent pool. Sans heard him moving around almost a half hour before he decided to speak. His fur rustles a little as he moves forward, but some of it is the way he’s still a little fuzzy at the edges.

“Holding this form is hard,” the little prince grumps. His toes disturb the top of the water, sending dancing light through the room. “Did you bring anything this time?”

A year ago, Sans might have snapped at the kid for asking. But, now he’s spent an uninterrupted year with a Frisk that freed them from the Underground, a year in the sunshine, a year of seasons, a year of freedom without a hint of a reset in sight. Frisk promised to never do it again, at least without talking to him first, and Sans has seen their Soul. They mean it.

It’s mellowed him a bit.

“sure did, kiddo,” Sans says.

Asriel waits a few seconds before blurting, “Well? What is it?”

“you need’ta come over here for me to give it to ya.”

Sans can see the way his eyes squint in the darkness, his snout wriggling as he sniffs the air. He knows that Asriel can smell the food he brought, but he wonders if he can tell-

“Mom?”

The word is a broken whisper. It presses against his Soul.

Sans stays except for reaching his hand towards the half-corporeal Asriel. He knows the child can’t see him properly, but as beings of similar magic, he can tell part of Sans is closer to him and he suppresses a flinch. “yeah, kiddo. got it all set up over here. want a hand?”

Ariel’s mouth turns into a little frown and he cocks his head to the side. “No jokes today? How do I know it’s you?”

“what, you think i could be an  _ impasta _ , kiddo?” Sans’s mouth twitches in a grin for an instant before he grows serious again. He can’t help how funny the disgusted look on Asriel’s face is whenever he makes puns. That’s payment in and of itself. “c’mere.”

“Ugh  _ fine _ ,” Asriel says with a pout, making a show of crossing over the little path of water between them. Even standing, he is only a little bit taller than Sans while seated. 

Asriel’s hands lift with a quick, jerky movement, like he’s moving before he loses his nerve. The magic holding him together in this form is weak, and very dependant on the Void. Sans isn’t sure that what Asriel does next could happen to any other monster.

The soft pads of his paws land on Sans’s forehead, just above his eye sockets, so Sans closes them immediately to avoid a stray finger going into them. That is  _ not  _ a feeling he wants repeated  _ ever _ . The prince feels around for familiar divots and marks on his skull, reading his scars like pages of a book. Sans can feel the way his body is made up of a strange unnatural magic, something he can recognize in his own make up. Thank you for that, Gaster.

Instead of focusing on what makes them similar, he feels what makes them different. Fire magic lies dormant in his odd half-formed Soul, and he moves like he could see before and only recently became blind. Sans knows this is only because his eyes need more time to get stronger. His fur feels just like Asgore’s, or Toriel’s, and he has to shove away the urge to tell the King and Queen his plans of getting their son back.

Only Frisk knows what he does when he leaves for his second job, since they know how to be patient, too.

“satisfied it’s me, kiddo? or-”

“Don’t do it, you smiley trashbag-”

“-are you  _ sternum _ i’m an imposter?”

Asriel’s foot makes a wet squelch when he stamps it. “Ugh! Definitely you!”

Sans doesn’t hold back his grin, standing to carefully lead the prince to the small picnic he set up. Half the food was packed by Toriel and the other half by Papyrus. Frisk had helped him fib about going on a little lunch trip today. He’d have to sneak the kid some monster candy later. 

Maybe Frisk could come with him down here next time. Sans contemplates this as he has a slurping contest with Asriel on their spaghetti. The longer he spends with the child the more normal he acts, and the more food he eats the sharper the edges of his body become. 

He sighs to himself. He wants to bring Frisk, but that would take more planning. And not today, but maybe soon, he could bring up leaving the Underground to Asriel again. 

For now, he enjoys a meal with the last occupant of the Underground.

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt #494 from inkstay's Dare to Write Challenge! Greyshi asked for Sans and Asriel without any other prompting, and this was the randomly chosen number. I hope you like it! ^^
> 
> [How to Prompt Me](https://uwa-so-frisk.tumblr.com/promptguidelines) | Check out the rest of the **Undertale: Anonymous** series for examples of my prompt fills!


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